Of The Sea
by Moonlight Maiden
Summary: A young woman 'travels' to Middle Earth and finds adventure, love, and a life that she never knew but had always missed...


Of The Sea

Moonlight Maiden

Prologue: A Long Awaited Departure

Thunder rumbled all along the dark, empty beach as a random fork of lightning lit up the stormy skies. Anotherflash of static electricity shot into the water closer to the shore and revealed a lone, cloaked figure walking alongpar the beach, ignorant - or perhaps just unafraid - of the approaching storm.

Suddenly, as if in a trance, the silent silhouette turned ninety degrees and began walking towards the choppy waves. A few strides and it's bare feet were emerged in the cold seawater. It waded yet further into the sea before coming to a standstill, the waves now reaching it's hips.

Lifting it's head to the stormy skies above, it reached a small hand up and pulled back the hood of it's dark forest-green cloak to reveal the face of a 21 year old woman. Deep blue eyes shone with happiness, awe and a hint of familiarity as they gazed into the thunderous clouds above. As the figure breathed in, the air smelled of the salty sea, of rain yet to fall and the smal, lightly freckled nose twitched at the welcome scent. A pair of lush, full lips curled up into a joyful smile that could match that of a small child who'd just received the best birthday present ever. Underneath the open cloak she wore a sleeveless purple shirt and a pair of denim jeans currently submerged by the rough waves.

She looked down at her ample bust and plump, curvy body and sighed sadly. She hated her body almost as much as she hated her life. Ever since she was a little girl she'd been overweight. Sure, she was glad that she was only 'a little' heavier and bigger than most girls her age and not grotesquely ovese like some people she'd seen. But every time she'd see a new diet being promoted on the news, they'd feature dieters who'd weigh roughly the same as her but where twice her size! Not good for her self-esteem.

Not only did her body greatly hinder her selfconfidence, but something else had been haunting her all her life. A feeling of emptiness lingering in her heart - a sense that she didn't belong in this world. She would walk around town, watching children playine in the park, teenagers flirting with each other outside the highschool, adults rushing to work and she would feel out of place, as if she were an alien taking a twenty-one year holiday on a strange planet.

And then there were the dreams... For the past year she'd been having dreams about forests of tall, ancient trees with leaves of all shades of green and villages of medieval buildings with cobblestone streets ending in dirt roads that headed in various directions, winding their way around farms, through grasslands, across rivers and over mountains.

But the most intriguing feature of these dreams were the eyes. Slightly slanted, they reminded her of the elves she'd fantasised about ever since her dad first read her 'The Hobbit' when she was a child. But these eyes were more vivid in her mind's eye than anything a child could imagine. The face itself was male, although it was always hidden in shadow. Only the eyes were clearly visible: blue as the sky on a clear summer's day, they would gaze at her with such passion that her face would burn, even in her sleep. The past few weeks she found herself constantly thinking of those enticing eyes and would get stares from people in shops and at traffic lights when her eyes would stare off into some unknown distance as her would break out in yet another blush. And just this week, she started to sense somthing that no weather bureau in the entire country had detected 'til this very evening...

A freak storm suddenly appeared on the east coast without any warning. Not a single breeze was rustling the leaves of the palm trees all through the hot, stifling day and then... POOF! Out of thin air a mass of huge storm clouds began to slowly roll across the skies towards the coastline. Only one person knew of it's coming... and she was prepared.

She always had a strange love of thunderstorms, especially when it rained or even hailed all noght long. This one, she knew, would be the best one she'd experienced yet. She gazed back up at the dark clouds now looming high above her. 'I can finally leave this place and find my real home... A place where I tryly DO belong.' she sighed. Shaking away all sad thoughts from her mind she opened her arms to either side and greeted the storm.

"Welcome, old friend. You have come at last." She closed her eyes as she listened for a response. She was not disappointed.

As if in answer, several bolts of lightning struck the sea only a few metres away as thunder roared through the skies. Yet she wasn't harmed by the proximity of the bolts, for, from the light and sound show the storm had greeted her with, she knew that it, too, was glad of their reunion.

With eyes still closed, she relished in the feel of the stormy winds gushing around her, blowing her long, golden-brown hair in all directions at once. She broke out in joyful laughter as the clouds let down their load of warm, heavy raindrops upon her.

Spinning around on the spot, she felt her clothers get soaked by both the rain and the sea. Listening to the thunder clapping all around her, she felt more akin to the storm than ever before. Opening her eyes, she answered the silent, yet thunderous question... 'Are you ready to go home?'

"I have been ready all my life, sister-storm." With that, she raised her arms to the clouds above as a huge tidal wave approached and a white lightning bolt shot at her from directly above. As they both hit her, a single thought echoed through the stormy skies...

'...At long last, I'm free...'

Well, there's the prologue to my first ever LOTR fic... been dreaming up scenes for it since FOTR first came out and have been aching to finally write it down for all to read... I KNOW that I've neglected to finish The Prom which i'd originally posted a few years ago, but rest assured that I AM working on it now and it should be finished and fully posted soon.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the almighty Lord Tolkein's characters or storyline... Nor do I own the plot changes that Peter Jackson and Co wrote which I may use in some chapters... Only my character and the few plot changes that I may choose to make myself.

Anyway, I hope that I can manage to put all of my ideas down on digital paper for you all to read and that I'm more successful in updating regularly unlike with The Prom. I'm already part way through the first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this introduction to my hopefully loooooong fic and hope to get some feedback from you all soon.

Blessed Be

Moonlight Maiden

P.S. 10 minutes after I post this thing, I discover that the whole format's been stuffed and had to redo it >. !


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